What Are The Risks Of Unsecure Wireless Networks What risks are they at?

[facc 0]

Hi, I was just wondering what problems persist for a wireless network if they are unsecured. I know the internet connection could be used by an unauthorised source but what else could an unauthorised source do?

[Quatrux 4]

Well I heard that people who knows how to do it can connect to the Internet when you're browsing Internet at your home from your backyard if the waves are floating there, using wireless Internet is quite insecure yet and I think they need to find a way, always sending your info using ssl is quite stupid and you can't always do that, I remember I saw a show on TV how some guys in London or somewhere has crossed places where you can use Internet for free, because of using someone else's wireless Internet connection.

[yordan 10]

I think that if you have some secret files on you PC (the phone number of your Girl Friend for instance) on a shared folder, the people sharing your unsecured Wifi network will read your files and know all your secret things.By the way, I think that the only real way to keep your secret secret is to put no real secret file on your PC.

[qwijibow 0]

With an Un-secured wireless, people around you can.....1) steal your bandwidth2) read your incoming and outgoing pop3 / smpt email, and its passwords ( email passwords ar not encrypted, passed as plain text) and very few ISP provided email is tunneled through SSL.3) read your ftp passwords.4) generally, invade your privacyWith Secured wireless, they can still do all of the above, they just have to wait 30 minutes while they collect enough encrypted packets to reveal your router encryption key.i was considering useing wireless for my house, then, after performing all possable steps to increace my security, i managed to crack it in 40 minutes.so, my whole house is now cat-5'ed

[shadow-x 0]

Also with access to the router or access point they can easilly change all the settings including the hidden ones and generally own your router or AP from then on, they can also watch all packets sent over the network so anything you do they can see. I think the really annoying thing is using your bandwidth though. Also its a pretty good way of getting annonymous internet access for anything like hacking, or anything illegal on the internet. If they really want to get sneaky they could use the information they get to scam you at your door or by email jus saying theyre from a company whose website you visited and con you there! Are you planning on setting up a wireless network or is it just a curiosity thing?

[HellFire121 0]

Yeah.. if you do get a wireless network make it secured as soon as you can.Even secured networks can still be broken into, and the consequences of that happening are quite high.They can look at and change the settings in your modem and hardware. They can steal your internet access, but they need to be pretty close to the source of the wireless networking for it to be a sufficient speed.Also they can take a look at all the devices and folders on the network.Say if your printer is turned on they can print something from it (If the printer is shared).They can access all the computers on the network, all the shared folders and if they are a good enough hacker, they could even get to EVERY file on your computer.So, yeah, As you can see it is a BIG privacy issues. You can scan the area if there are any wireless devices so you can make sure it is safe for a wireless network.If you can, use a wired network.- HellFire

[Sarah81 0]

What's the big advantage to wireless when you're settng up a home network? Would it be more expensive to set up wired routers and invest in CAT-5 cable? Or is the wireless preference so that you can connect with a laptop computer anywhere in the house? That - laptop connectivity - is the only reason I can think of for not going with a wired connection at home.

[yordan 10]

What's the big advantage to wireless when you're settng up a home network?

In my home : the advantage was making no holes in the walls between the four rooms where our four computers were. This is the first advantage with wifi compared to wired : no need to make holes and have wires accross your house, making holes is sometimes dangerous and the black or blue cables are not very nice.The other advantages is with the laptops : you can watch your DivX movie in your bed, or in the dining room or in the garden, no need to be attached to a data cable.
Yordan
Edited April 7, 2006 by yordan (see edit history)

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

Yea, poratability and lack of wires is really the main advantages, as well as being able to add new computers to the network without having to cable them into the router. Unfortunately this is the exact advantage for hackers :lol:Cost wise its hard to say which would be better... wired is a cheaper router and cards but if you need alot of cable it can add up to around the same price. Plus alot of routers are starting to just be both wired/wireless now and their pricess are always dropping and there are often good sales.

[evought 0]

Hi, I was just wondering what problems persist for a wireless network if they are unsecured. I know the internet connection could be used by an unauthorised source but what else could an unauthorised source do?

 

Well, the obvious risk is that someone can compromise one of your PCs. If you are behind a wireless router, you are somewhat protected (by NAT, etc.) from the Internet, but wireless hackers are inside your firewall and can attack your systems more easily.

 

Someone inside your firewall can also listen to your traffic, stealing passwords, recording what sites you visit, etc. They can then steal money from your PayPal account, buy things in your name on eBay, or transfer money from your bank.

 

 

Other people can also share your bandwidth through your router to connect to the Internet. often this is not a big problem, but if you pay for your bandwidth, it can run up a bill. Also, if the person using your network is hacking other systems, sending SPAM, or has a virus, you may be blamed for it.

 

Lastly, someone can eny you your service by taking over your router (they are much easier to hack from the inside), using up your bandwidth, &etc.

Edited April 7, 2006 by evought (see edit history)

[Valanga 0]

Hi, I was just wondering what problems persist for a wireless network if they are unsecured. I know the internet connection could be used by an unauthorised source but what else could an unauthorised source do?

Hmm, let see heres a short list of they might do. Of course after many of them the authorities would come knocking on your door and might even take your PCs and other elctronics as evidence. Sure you'd get them back eventually, but....

1. Distribute a new virus, worm, trojan etc.
2. Setup a file share with copyrighted material.
3. Sniff your network traffic and grab your email passwords right out of the air.
4. Set up a man in the middle exploit and gain access to your more sensitive passwords and information.
5. Log in to your machine using the default administrator password and totally thrash your data, or just steal it.
6. How about full fledged ID theft. It certainly could happen.
7. Reconfigure your network so that they are now in control. You'd be forced to hard reset it to regain control.


Of course at the same time I true hacker could probably break into your secured network and do the same things if they really wanted to. They probably won't though, since your next door neighbor has a wide open "low hanging fruit" network.

The important question you didn't ask is "How secure should my network be" and my answer to that is just secure enough that it doesn't inconvenience the users but that it can deter the potential attackers.

In my environment where my neighbors are far from tech savvy and they have wide open networks, Simple MAC address filtering with low level encryption is more than enough.

[DjCalvin 0]

My cable company sucks, and I rely on 3 of my neighborhood's unsecure wireless networks to be able to finish up any work I am doing before i can call my cable co to tell them its down. (goes down a couple times a week, but they "never see a problem") I have left letters in their mailbox telling them step by step for each manufacturor how to enable wep and select a password. have any of them done it? no.Im not looking around on their network, and I have told 2 of my neightbors that i have hopped on their dsl connection for about 10 min a pop and they strangely are ok with it.One neighbor about a year ago was so happy that i showed him how to enable wep that he bought me 3 cases of beer that summer for a cookout we were having. He came up to me and told me that this was for helping him out with his wireless network. I still do not trust wep completely as there are wep crackers out there.You want security? go wired.You want speed? go wired.You want convience? go wireless. Thats the only upside to wireless. I can go outside in my garden and still have great connectivity while i am working.I have both a wired and a wireless network. They are both on completely different ip ranges, I only have my laptop hooked up to the wireless network. If someone has a couple hours to kill and wants to crack my wireless, they arent going too far unless they have the static routes. And hell, I';; give em a beer for trying.(yes i know their are always to find broadcasting traffic)

[snutz411 0]

Hi, I was just wondering what problems persist for a wireless network if they are unsecured. I know the internet connection could be used by an unauthorised source but what else could an unauthorised source do?

If you have an unsecured wireless network, it basically opens up your internet access to anyone who lives close to you. This is especially true if you live in the city or in a development in the suburbs. Some people may even accidently be connected to your network just due to the default settings on that persons wireless card.

For the most part, I don't think anyone will be using your internet access to due illegal things, but those people are out there. Some people wardrive which means that they just get in their car and drive around until they find wireless "hotspots". People don't even need laptops anymore, I have a PDA that has wireless on it.

If people hijack your internet and do bad, bad things, it will be reported under your IP address that you get from your ISP.

[BitShift 0]

Generally if you secure your wireless network with WEP or WAP no one is going to really try to break into it."Wardrivers" will not stop at a secured connection and try to crack it because they know there is always an unsecure one lying around somewhere.If your concerned about them hacking into your "shared folders" you can specify a specific port range for wireless devices on your network, and then you can disable certain protocols for those ranges, like Netbios and stuff.Its also best NOT to broadcast your SSID, and also make sure your router does NOT respond to ping queries from the internet.Even better if you have lets say 4 computers that you use. You can disable DHCP for your wireless network and create 4 static routes. Then you can reserve those routes for specific MAC addresses, so if anyone even finds your static routes, they would also have to figure out your devices MAC address, and then try to change their MAC address to match yours.These are basic tweaks that can easily enhance your security.If you are really concerned about private folders/files. If you have WindowsXP then it comes with a built in encryption system ( Well I know XP Pro has it, not sure about Home Edition ).If you encrypt your files it then becomes extremely hard for someone to steal your information, because then they have to find they key to unlock and read the files.

[jimmy89 0]

people have said that using a mac filter on your router works! but i have read in other forums on this board that you can crack this mac filter, is that possible!also, what is the best encryption method and does encryption slow down your internet access and data bandwidth?